


Nothing of the Kind

by havocthecat



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Multi, Women Being Awesome, dopplecest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-22
Updated: 2010-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-13 23:26:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/142867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havocthecat/pseuds/havocthecat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thank you to monanotlisa and cleo for betareading.  This story has hints of Elena/Katherine/Damon/Stefan, but is primarily focused on Elena/Katherine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing of the Kind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [emilyenrose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyenrose/gifts).



Elena sits in the bar, two shot of tequila, a bowl of limes, and a salt shaker sitting in a tidy row on the dark wooden counter in front of her. She's not drunk yet, she won't be until she's got another three or four shots in her, but she's got a very mellow feeling. The room isn't full; it's not even happy hour, so she's all alone at the bar, and the noise from the tables is a manageable buzz in the background.

She keeps her hair long and straight still, because it makes her look less like her ancestor. Katherine's the one who likes wearing her hair in ringlets. It's better if people have some way of telling them apart. That way Elena's not blamed for what Katherine does.

Most people assume she and Katherine are twins. Being born five hundred years apart makes a bigger difference than five minutes, but neither of them care enough to correct the misunderstanding. Anyone that might understand their resemblance isn't someone they want to explain it to.

Elena licks her wrist and then picks up the salt shaker, watching as the salt crystals drift down to rest against her skin. The tequila is smooth, burning fire sliding down her throat and into her stomach, and the lime sears her mouth.

"Petrova doppelgangers, on the run together from Klaus' revenge," says Katherine, sliding into the bar stool next to her. She's got a graceful ease that Elena thinks might have taken her five hundred years to master. "Do you think this makes us best friends?"

Not in a thousand years. Not even if they pull this off and stop Klaus from coming after them.

The bartender hands over an Irish coffee to Katherine, then asks, with a pleasant expression, "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Her eyes are vacant, and her pupils dilated. Elena knows the bartender is compelled, but she can't do anything about it except feel bad. So she has another shot of tequila. Elena the party girl doesn't care about anyone. She can pretend to be the egocentric teenage party girl to get through this.

"Put my sister's drinks on my tab," says Katherine, "and make it's all compliments of the house." She's smoky and sultry, and, despite herself, Elena watches and wonders if she's ever going to be that poised.

"That's stealing," says Elena, turning to face Katherine and leaning one arm on the bar. She can see the rest of the customers out of the corner of her eye, so she tilts her head and lets her hair fall forward enough to block her vision.

Katherine leans forward and puts her hand on Elena's thigh to brace herself. Her lips are next to Elena's ear. "We're going to be on the run for a quite a while," she murmurs. "Your allowance money's going to run out long before we can end this."

There's an electric thrill running through Elena. Katherine knows it too, which is why she presses a soft kiss on Elena's cheek, one that looks innocent to anyone who doesn't know the whole story. Katherine leans back with a triumphant smile. She wins. Again.

"There is a creepy-looking man in this bar staring at us," Elena grinds out, her voice low and irritated. Her eyes flicker to the table across the room.

Katherine glances over, dismisses them with a scornful look, and turns back to Elena. "It's just Damon."

He leers at them and gives a little wave, his feet propped up on the table and a glass of scotch in one hand. Stefan is at the table, scowling furiously. Damon gives them a cheerful little wave when he notices.

"My point exactly," mutters Elena. Salt, tequila, lime. She's out of drinks. Maybe, just maybe, if she can sober up, she'll discover this is all just a nightmare. Even waking up to a barrage of insults in Mr. Tanner's history class is preferable to this.

A bottle of Patron lands on the bar, courtesy of the dazed-looking bartender. "Compliments of the house!" she chirps, perky and vacuous. Elena sighs and gives Katherine a dirty look, only to receive a smug smile in return.

"Drink up, Elena," she says, amused as she raises her Irish coffee in a toast. "It's a cold day outside, and you need to stay warm."

"I hate you," says Elena, but she pours herself another shot anyway. She can't face this sober. Not tonight.

"You need me," says Katherine.

"You need _me_ ," counters Elena.

Katherine's good humor deserts her. They do need each other. The spell binding their lives together makes sure of it.

Stefan had wanted to stay, to fight it out and find a way to remove the binding. To stop hiding and running. Damon had wanted to stay and fight it out, but that's because there's nothing Damon likes more than fighting.

Elena and Katherine are the authors of this plan. It involves a whole lot more than just running away, but the whole idea is to make everyone think they're running away. Stefan and Damon are tagging along, because going off without backup puts her and Katherine in the "too stupid to live" category.

Also, they're not about to leave Elena and Katherine alone with each other. No one knows what will happen then.

Elena has one last shot of tequila, then pushes herself up and leans on the bar for a moment, to gather her thoughts before turning and leaving. She weaves through the bar, ignoring Damon when he tries to get her attention.

The bitter February air hits her when she bursts out the door, and Elena crosses her arms for warmth. The wind off the lake is hard enough to knock her off balance for an instant. Coming to Chicago is one of their worst ideas yet, but they're trying to hide in the crowds.

Stefan is beside her before she can take a step, draping his coat over her shoulders. She smiles up at him gratefully and brushes her fingers over his hand. "Are you okay?" he asks.

"She's just fine," says Katherine. She's got her coat on.

Damon hovers just behind her, giving Elena and Stefan his bug-eyed 'what the hell are you changing the plans for?' look.

One of these days, she's going to tell him it makes him look constipated. For now, Elena rolls her eyes. They've already talked about this. It's not Damon's choice.

"I asked Elena," Stefan says, shooting Katherine a dirty look. She pouts at him and tries to look innocent. Stefan is unmoved.

"I really am," says Elena, reassuring him. "I'm _fine_. We have a plan. As long as we stick to it, everything's going to work out."

Stefan doesn't look very reassured. He looks like he's five minutes from trying to call this whole thing off and running back to Mystic Falls. It's not Stefan or Damon's call, though. Elena and Katherine are the ones that Klaus is targeting. They've made the rules on this one.

Katherine saunters over and takes Elena's free hand. She tugs, and Elena steps forward. It's not entirely unwilling. "Don't worry. I'll take care of the little darling."

"I can take care of myself," says Elena.

"I know that," murmurs Katherine. She looks back over her shoulder, and Elena mirrors the gesture. Stefan and Damon are standing next to each other, their frowns almost identical.

She and Katherine get around the corner and down to the next block. There's a coffee shop that's closing up, and Katherine whisks them inside, compelling the owner to run along home without locking up first.

"Is there anything that's off-limits to you? asks Elena. She collapses into a plush, oversized green couch. At least it's warm in here.

"If there is, I haven't found it," says Katherine, turning to Elena with a self-satisfied grin. "The secret to manipulating the Salvatore brothers is to play them against each other. Let them compete over who gets to save the damsel in distress a little while longer. You'll have them eating out of your hand."

"Gosh, I can't imagine why they hate you," says Elena. She's bitter. They hate her and they still do what she wants them to.

Katherine bursts out laughing. "They've never stopped loving me," she says. "They just don't realize it yet."

Elena frowns. She feels helpless, trapped in this scheme she's orchestrated. She and Katherine are stuck together, without any chance of escaping from the other.

"Don't worry about it," says Katherine. "They love you too, if you haven't forgotten. Maybe one day, they'll figure out what they want. Do you know what you want?"

Then she's on the couch, pushing Elena down. She's buzzed enough that she doesn't push Katherine away when her mouth comes down on Elena's. She pulls Katherine close instead, kissing her. Their kisses are hard, with grasping hands, not soft with gentle caresses like when she's kissed other women, and Elena knows what Katherine likes without having to ask.

She shifts around on the couch, pulling back just enough to let Katherine unsnap her jeans. Elena's hands are up Katherine's shirt, pinching at her breasts. One of them makes a sobbing, gasping sound, or maybe both of them do. They sound too much alike.

Before Elena can examine that thought too closely, they've both stripped naked. Their bodies are twining together on the couch. She knows Katherine's strength, has felt it before. Elena likes being held down, likes having Katherine's thigh slide between her legs and push, just enough pressure as she moves, steady enough that Elena comes with a sharp cry.

Katherine sits up, smirking at her, and Elena's eyes narrow. If they're going to play hardball, fine. Elena can play hardball too. She pushes Katherine back against the safe and slides down her body.

It's not pretty, whatever this is between them, but fucking Katherine lights a fire in Elena that isn't going to die out on its own. She smooths her hands across Katherine's thighs and licks at her, nuzzling into her soft skin and inhaling the almost tangy scent of her. Katherine cries out, clawing at Elena and pulling her up, her palm rubbing hard on her clit to make herself come.

Elena understands why Katherine always has to be in control. She understands more than Katherine thinks. They're as much the same person as the five hundred years separating them will let them be.

They're doppelgangers, both of them, each born in the image of an ancestor dead for millennia now. Sometimes Elena wonders what it's like to be an original person.

She doesn't let Katherine take charge. Elena nudges Katherine's hand away and circles Katherine's clit with her fingers. Katherine lets her move her fingers against her slick wetness, breathing hard as she shudders under Elena, screaming.

More than hatred ties them together. They've got two bodies between them, but Elena doesn't know if they're just creatures of magic, or if they have souls. Maybe they share whatever soul the first sacrifice had. Maybe that's what makes them so alike.

Elena relaxes bonelessly on top of Katherine, trying to catch her breath, when she sees movement out of the corner of her eyes. She raises her head to look over the back of the couch, then sits up, surprised. Damon and Stefan stand just inside the door, staring at Elena and Katherine.

Damon is predictable, looking hungry for both of them. Stefan's conflicted, eternally conflicted. It's frustrating, seeing him want her and still deny himself. Time stretches to its thinnest point as Elena's guilt overwhelms her.

As it snaps, she sees with perfect clarity.

Their emotions are tools. She's been using them both this whole time, but this is the moment she stops hiding from herself. This is when she stops feeling guilty.

This is what she wants. Elena smiles at Stefan, trying to push down the hesitation she feels. She can have everything she wants.

 _Maybe forever, if you play your cards right._ There's a voice whispering to her. Elena doesn't know if it's her own thoughts, or if Katherine's in her head again.

Stefan wants her. He wants Katherine too. She can give him this, make sure he's not torn between the two of them. But what if it backfires on them both? Damon makes no secret of how much he wants them. He's scared of them, though. Of how they make him feel.

Katherine chuckles, and the look Damon gives her is furious. He meets Elena's eyes after, and she doesn't need words to figure out he's asking her what she wants.

"Come here, Stefan." Elena curses silently. She sounds too uncertain. "Damon."

"Elena?" Stefan is dragged one step forward by desire, or fear, or maybe by whatever's in her expression. Damon is at her side right away. He _would_.

"Oh, yes, do," says Katherine. She smiles, knowing everything going through Elena's mind. "We'll have such fun together."

"Come over here and join us. Please." Elena and Katherine are both naked. Damon's got his hand on her leg, and she's not telling him to stop. This is as terrifying as it is exhilarating. "We can figure this out later. After."

She can figure it out. They all can, once they know. what's going on between them.

Stefan takes another step forward, then another and another, until he's at her side. Elena smiles at him. The only people she's got time for in the universe are with her.

They'll figure this problem out too.


End file.
